


Sweet Chaos

by dizzyconstellations



Category: Fate: The Winx Saga (TV), Winx Club
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-16 07:01:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29449719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dizzyconstellations/pseuds/dizzyconstellations
Summary: Whereas Sam was silence and peace, Riven was chaos, loud and angry chaos. And she oddly found herself liking chaos.Or the one, where Musa discovers a new, unknown emotion when it comes to her, under the chaos that came from Riven.
Relationships: Musa & Riven (Winx Club), Musa/Riven (Winx Club)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 242





	Sweet Chaos

**Author's Note:**

> I'm knee deep in Rivusa and should have been working on all my WIPs. Yet I spent the entire weekend writing this. This site needs more of them and I'm happy to comply. Also, sorry for the errors, I spent my time doing this instead of my essays. Happy Valentine's Day!

The air was filled with the thick scent of smoke. The night was chilly and the moon high, full, and bright. 

Musa just wanted some peace and quiet. She wanted to stop the buzzing of the school from invading her mind. She thought heading out to a nook in the courtyard would ease her headache.

She had been wrong. Unknowingly, she found her new source of headache staring back at her.

His piercing green eyes were shrouded in darkness, only illuminated by the sliver of moonlight peeking into his corner. He let out a puff of smoke and blew it up at her.

“Care to join me, mind fairy?” 

They had been getting closer as of late, she blamed Sky for tagging him along to everything. She didn’t mind it, she liked that the group was growing big enough that if she ever needed to escape. They’d still have plenty of people to hang out with.

She didn’t mind the newest addition to the group, Brandon, the Specialist that had transferred to the suite with Sky and Riven. He had gotten into a fight with his previous suite mates and was the one who entertained everyone whenever things got somber or anything other than peppy.

She was thankful for him and Dane’s sweetness when he joined them. Riven was another story. Everything around him was dark and murky, a darkness she couldn’t decipher. 

“No, thanks.” Her eyes trailed along the area, there were a couple of fairies and Specialists eating and laughing. This area was the quietest, maybe because it was the darkest.

“I won’t bite.” He stomped the cigarette under his toe and made room for her anyway. “You need a little escape. Sit down.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t offer me an escape by smoking,” She treaded carefully near him and sat a good distance from him.

Even though his mind was nothing but a stream of chaos and cloudy feelings, it was distracting enough from the pulsing emotions and noisiness coming from dinner time. 

“You don’t seem like the type to smoke.” He shrugged.

“I’ve tried it,” She didn’t know why she was disclosing things to him. “You know it’s not good for your health.”

He laughed, raking his hands through his hair. 

“Are you my nurse now? Doctor?” His eyes glinted, smoldering. “I wouldn’t mind seeing you in a sexy nurse getup.”

“Gross,” She liked their banter. It was as distracting as his mind. 

Her eyes flashed purple and he groaned.

“Great, now you’re my therapist.”

“Sorry,” She bit her lip, toying with the hem of her shirt. “It’s just you’re very distracting.”

“I’ve been told,” He leaned forward towards her, a little too close for their usual proximity. “Do you want a good distraction? It might take your mind off your ex lover boy.”

She groaned and punched him on the shoulder, “Not what I meant. I meant that your mind distracts me from the mess of emotions going on back there. Dinner time is always rowdy.” 

“Was Golden Boy a good distraction?”

She didn’t answer. 

“I’ll distract you, but not with my mind,” He told her. “Tell me something. Like I don’t know, something about your day? Is that the kinda shit you talk about with your friends?”

She glanced up at him bewildered that he actually offered so nicely and no hidden innuendo.

“Honestly, I feel so many things I’d rather not talk too much about my feelings,” She said.

“Okay, how about something else?”

“Brandon mentioned you got your ass handled in Specialist training today.”

Riven cackled, shaking his head, “I wouldn’t say it like that. I got in a few hits.”

Musa smiled, fighting back her own laughter.

A surge of satisfaction flowed through them and Musa realized it was from him. 

“I kicked Haywood’s ass, he’s this annoying third year. Thinks he’s tough, but he’s not.”

“That’s good, it definitely lessened the blow to your ego.”

Riven was watching her with amusement, “Are you just looking for any chance to take a hit at me too?”

His words were meant to be harsh, but the amusement was still clear in his eyes.

“Not my fault your ego is so big you need to be taken down a peg.”

“My ego is just fine, mind fairy,” He snuck closer to her, leaning on the wall she was at. 

The fresh scent of pine wafted over them and the thrill of a new feeling coursed around them. It was warm and light, bubbling around them. It was a feeling that came around whenever they happened to be lonely or when they spotted each other during their group outings. She wasn’t sure what it was.

“I haven’t seen you around Specialist/Fairy training,” He brought up, she felt a twinge of longing.

No that wasn’t right. They had been sparring partners for a lot of the sessions and she considered that a huge contribution to her feeling comfortable around him, other than their forced group friendship. But longing? Nope.

“I’ve been stuck with Dowling lately,” she told him. “She thinks I’m close to projecting my feelings onto others and maybe even some telekinesis.”

“Wow, no way!” Upon seeing her bemused expression, he toned it down. “That’s cool. The other fairy trainees I get paired with, kinda suck. It’s not like fighting with you, not like I miss you.”

“You just miss me kicking your ass right?”

Riven’s shoulders shook with the loudest laugh he let out that night. “Sure, if that’s what you call kicking my ass. The dancing probably helped some, but you were still shit.”

“Lovely ego boost,” She grinned, this felt natural. She was reminded of all her training sessions together. “I do miss it though, even you, I guess.”

The air crackled with that warm, buzzing feeling. His eyes snapped to hers, searching for something. He concentrated hard, like he was trying to read her the same way she did.

“You miss me?” 

“I said I guess,” She wanted to backtrack, knowing well that he’d use this as an easy way to tease her. Not that she wouldn’t bite back with force. “I mostly miss being physical and not on the sidelines.”

“Right, being physical with me.”

She wanted to wipe that cheeky grin of his face.

“In your dreams,” She enunciated every word and he chuckled.

“You’d rather not know how you are in my dreams.”

His gaze was smoldering, his lips quirked up in a flirty smile. It wasn’t his usual flirtatious nature, not the same way it was either everyone else. The warmth that spread over them and wrapped them like a cocoon. 

His mind was disorderly and loud. His emotions pushing into her, working into her in the same he was doing. 

“We should go inside,” She didn’t want to, but she knew if she stayed out any longer, staring into her eyes she’d find something she knew he wouldn’t like. 

She was itching to see him, mind completely bare and heart open. She knew there were moments in which he didn’t act like a jerk, his friends knew that side of him. Terra knew that side of him.

She knew that side of him, but he was always hesitant. Blocking his mind carefully and guarding his every emotion. She could still sense the raging chaos inside of him, which always distracted her.

He looked like he wanted to say something, but he relented.

“Sure, was I distracting enough?” 

His voice had a teasing note to it, it was not enough to mask the apprehension underneath.

“You were, thanks.” She smiled at him gratefully.

She felt her heart soar at the instant satisfaction that burst in them. He nodded, his lips forced into a solid line. No matter how hard he tried Musa could still feel his true emotions, he knew that. That didn’t stop him from playing the role he came up with.

“Let’s go before they think you’ve been tragically murdered or something.”

They made their way inside. The intense buzzing felt dim, like background noise in comparison to the extremities of Riven’s emotions. 

She found it so odd, in that sense Riven and Sam were polar opposites. 

Whereas Sam was silence and peace, Riven was chaos, loud and angry chaos. And she oddly found herself liking chaos. 

* * *

She found herself thinking about that comparison too much. Riven felt so much, it was overwhelming. Not the same way as Terra. Riven’s emotions felt like organized chaos. Like different parts of something that worked differently but came together to form one thing. His emotions were vivid and lively and she felt herself soaking in them.

They weren’t always negative but a gloomy cloud tended to follow him. Except he felt warmer, lighter and glowing when she would catch sight of him in the hallway or on the rare occasion, such as their sparring sessions or when they split up during their group interactions. It happened often and powerfully, when they were lonely together like that night.

That same feeling came again when Bloom and Sky had left them alone, while they went in search of a hidden nook in the library to make out. They had left on the excuse of finding a book for their essay.

He was sitting next to her, absentmindedly twirling a pencil in his hand. She typed away, going back and forth between her book and essay. Suddenly she was hit with a warm, light emotion that knocked the wind out of her.

Riven pushed his chair closer to her and began tugging her pigtail, wrapping the ends of her hair in his fingers and pulling. He smiled, distracted by the way her curls bounced. Had she known he’d be messing with her curls, she wouldn’t have spent an extra twenty minutes curling her hair that morning.

“Your hair is quite soft.” His voice was tantalizingly gentle. “It looks nice in this light.”

She was sure she hadn’t meant to hear it. He whispered it so softly, if it weren’t for the close proximity she wouldn’t have heard him whisper it.

She turned to him. His face was so close, the closest it had ever been. She could see the golden flecks in his eyes shining under the sunlight streaming in through the window. His face, which was usually all hard lines and stiff muscle, was soft and open. His eyes half-lidded as he lazily stared down at her. A light flush was creeping up his neck as she spoke out.

“What?”

Rivens hands retracted from her hair like he had been burnt. He quickly went back to his own essay and leaned away from her.

She wanted to take a peek into his mind to see why he had jumped away from her. She knew it was wrong. He was constantly asking her to not probe his mind and she never did it, at least intentionally. But his emotions were always so strong and prominent that sometimes it just happened.

However, now she felt him throw a mental shield. His emotions were all over the place. Not his usual controlled chaos. No this was truly _chaos._

His emotions were a whirlwind, but underneath it all was an undercurrent of that warm buoyant feeling she was beginning to associate solely with Riven.

“...Thank you?”

She actually wasn’t sure how to react. Riven wasn’t privy to compliments, much less to her. He only ever reserved insults or light teasing words to her. Never compliments, at least to her face. She was used to it. It was very Riven.

His shoulders stiffened and he closed his eyes. She could feel the anxiety and embarrassment rolling off of him in waves.

“Found the book!” Bloom’s merry voice broke their deafening silence.

Musa watched in amusement as the couple came into view. Bloom trying to discreetly fix her shirt and Sky wiped away any remnants of Bloom’s lips gloss off his face.

Riven sighed. Surely, thanking them for their timing. They all regrouped and began helping each other out with their own assignments. 

Riven rarely spoke out and if he did, it was mainly to Sky and on occasion Bloom. Musa tried to not let it get to her. He was probably embarrassed for the slip up. Although, she normally wouldn’t consider offhandedly throwing a compliment at someone being something to be embarrassed about.

Once the sun began to set and the population in the library was beginning to dwindle, they called their session off. 

“Do you guys want to walk to the cafeteria together? I’m starving.” Sky asked slinging his backpack over his shoulder.

Bloom beamed at him delightedly. Musa almost felt like she was always intruding when it came to them. You didn’t need to be a mind fairy to experience their gushy emotions.

“Sure! Let me just drop my things at the dorm.” Bloom turned to Musa and Riven who were hovering by the library doors, steadily avoiding each other. Well at least Riven was avoiding her.

“Musa? Riven?” Sky watched the pair, his eyes flicking between the both of them as if he could sense something.

“I—“

“I’m going to get in a workout before bed. Sneak me some snacks, will you mate?”

Riven couldn’t leave fast enough. Musa stared at his retreating back, his muscles stiff and his head bent low. The embarrassment and anxiety still pungent even as he retreated. 

“Everything okay, Musa?” 

She nodded, “Just tired.”

Bloom nodded understandingly, “I’ll bring you some fruit, yeah?”

Musa nodded and turned to go to the suite. No, everything was not okay. What the hell was up with Riven?

* * *

She had spent that night tossing and turning. The image of Riven’s soft, open expression in the library stuck to her head. He had seemed so tender and sweet, so out of character, as he gazed down at her. The blush that rose from his neck to his face when she caught him staring and threw him off guard when she thanked him for his compliment…

No. She was looking too deep into things. They were friends, at least somewhat friends. They were now in the same social circle due to their friends dating. He knew Terra and Stella well enough. They were paired together for Specialism/Fairy training whenever Dowling wasn’t around to do rounds with. 

Friends, even somewhat friends or acquaintances for that matter, complimented each other. Hell, strangers complimented each other.

Except Riven rarely complimented anyone…

“Whoa, go easy on the waffle.”

Musa faltered. She glanced down at her massacred waffle and then up at the brown-eyed boy that had stolen her heart all those months ago. 

Sam smiled timidly at her, “You okay?”

“Mhmm.” She didn’t mean to sound or look so awkward. They were friends. They had broken up on good terms and still saw each other. 

If he suspected something out of the ordinary in her character, he didn’t say, “Have you seen Terra? I went by the suite but she wasn’t there. Figured you’d know.”

Truthfully, she wasn’t one to keep tabs on her roommate's whereabouts. At least, not always. She enjoyed their company but she was one to slither away for some alone time. She did remember Terra waking up bright and early and stating she wouldn’t be joining them for breakfast.

“Nope, sorry.”

Her voice wasn’t meant to sound so curt. Her attention was elsewhere. To the green-eyed Specialist staring her down from the fruit bar.

Sam nodded and finally settled on sitting down across from her. She never felt Sam. He had been total silence. A safe haven in a world full of chaos. She couldn’t sense his anxiety, but she could see it. He was ironically an open book.

“Can we...can we talk?”

“Sure.”

She wasn’t sure why Sam was giving off high levels of nervousness. She always experienced a distilled version of his feelings if they were potent enough whenever he wasn’t radio silent. Now, he had her feeling rattled too.

“Is everything okay with you?”

She tried to focus on the boy in front of her and not the hard green glare coming from across the room. 

“Yeah, I want to talk to you about something. Just don't know how to say it.”

“Just rip the band aid off. It should be easy for you.”

He winced. She hadn’t meant for those words to slip out. They held no malice to them. Just the bitter memory of the words she spoke before he broke it off.

“I mean it’s me, Sam. You don’t have to hesitate. We’ve always told each other everything even if it was hard.”

To really sell her point, she reached out across the table and sought his hand. She squeezed it and threw him a tentative, encouraging smile. He avoided her gaze.

In a rush, he spilled it out, “I’ve met someone.”

His eyes snapped up to her as her grip slackened. She didn’t release his hand, she was too caught up in the swirl of emotions in his eyes. It barely touched her, but it was strong enough for her to feel his guilt.

“Oh.”

“I’m sorry,” he began to apologize, strengthening the grip of their hands and leaning forward intimately. “I don’t want you to hear it from a third party. It’s new, fresh. Experimental. I don’t mean to hurt you, Musa.”

“I know Sam.”

She did know. This was Sam. He was so kind, so gentle with her. She wasn’t hurt. Not when their break up had been mutual. There was still a softness to them, a natural gravitation, they had considered to remain friends after all.

They had grown apart. There was no resentment from either end. Just acknowledgement that they had meant a lot to one another at one point and wished the best for each other, even if it wasn’t together.

“I’m happy for you.” She genuinely smiled and focused everything she had on making sure he knew she really was happy for him. 

“I’m nervous about it,” He admitted, falling into a comfortable conversation that felt natural to them. “I don’t... I don’t want to be a bad boyfriend. I guess that’s also why I’m here.”

She tried to concentrate on him, but there was a surge of hostility emerging from somewhere and in the cafeteria. Musa could see Riven amidst a group of Specialists a few tables away. He seemed agitated and not in tune with whatever was going on at his table.

“I wanted to apologize with how things ended. I should have put more effort, spent more time—”

She lifted her hand, “I’m gonna stop your right there. You were great. You were more than great. We just didn’t workout and that’s no one's fault.”

He still seemed hesitant. With a loud exasperated sigh, she grabbed both sides of his faces and forced him to stare into her eyes.

His eyes widened as she projected a swarm of bubbly, warm feelings at him. She wanted him to feel every ounce of positive emotion he had made her feel and show the gratitude she had for him.

He had been her solace at one point. His serenity had tied her down and now she was being seen tied down by her own need for peace.

Feeling the musical notes of peace that came with him found her suddenly missing a strange organized chaos.

“That’s what I felt about you. You’ll be a great boyfriend, Sam Harvey, and you don’t need to worry.”

Sam smiled softly and enclosed his hand over hers. “You’re great too and I hope you find happiness with someone, Musa.”

The moment was broken as a ridiculously loud clank of a tray resounded. Riven was staring down at them, knuckles white and straining as he gripped his tray. He plopped down and shoved Sam away as he reached across them to grab the extra syrup packet on Musa’s plate.

Musa retracted her hands away from Sam’s face and glowered at the grumbling Specialist.

“Oh don’t mind me,” Riven waved his butter knife at them, a strong emotion radiated off of him. Hostile and blazing. “I’ll just be here, waiting for the guys. The other Specialists were getting annoying.”

Sam cleared his throat. “Right. Thanks Musa for the encouragement. I’ll be going now.”

“Oh? Was I interrupting something?” Riven feigned innocence, but Musa could see the smirk behind the chunk of waffle he had. 

“No,” Sam insisted, his eyes flickering between Musa and Riven. “You don’t need to worry, mate.”

Riven grumbled something along the lines of not being mates. The atmosphere crackled with the intense, hostile emotion radiating off of Riven. She didn’t know what it was, but sometimes Riven was full of negative emotions. She simply waved it off.

Musa noted Sam spoke like there was a double meaning to his words.

Sam found this amusing. Musa could see the edge of his lips raising and his eyebrows following, as he regarded Riven with a glint in his brown eyes. He was seeing something Musa clearly wasn’t.

“I’ll catch you lot later,” Sam winked at her, waggled his eyebrows at her and then pointedly stared at Riven, before trudging away.

“He’s weird,” Riven muttered, buttering his waffle and drowning it in syrup. “Is that what you’re into? Thought you had better taste, but if he’s someone you keep coming back to. I was so wrong.”

“What do you want, Riven?” She snapped, she wasn’t too defensive of Sam, but she knew he was a good guy and didn’t deserve the slander.

“I’m waiting for Sky and Brandon,” He said around a mouthful of waffle. “Didn’t mean to break up the love fest.”

“Not a love fest,” She told him, chewing on her own food. “He found someone else.”

“Oh.”

He stopped chewing and watched her carefully. She simply ate and watched him back.

“How do you feel about that?”

She flinched. She hadn’t expected that. Hadn’t expected the tendrils of overprotectiveness and concern to extend from him to her. He shifted uneasily, no doubt seeing her eyes flash purple, and she was suddenly filled with his annoyance.

“Get out of my head,” He reminded her, but his voice was unnaturally calm. “So, how are you holding up, mind fairy?”

“Good,” She didn’t know why she was being honest with him. She had no reason not to be, but this was Riven. They didn’t exactly sit down and braid each other’s hair as they expressed their feelings.

“Good?”

“I’m fine,” She admitted, “We broke up months ago. We’re friends. He’s moving on, I’m…”

“Still in love,” Riven finished for her, his voice distorted. He forcefully shoved the rest of his waffle into his mouth and slammed the fork down a little too roughly. The same crackle of hostility coming off him from earlier.

“No,” She shook her head, laughing a little at the prospect. He had piqued her curiosity. “Why would you think that?”

He gave her a pointed glare, “You’re handsy with everyone then? That little stunt you were pulling, either you’re touch starved or thirsting for him. Don’t know what’s worse.” 

She didn’t know what possessed her to do it, but she raised her hands to his face and pressed them gently onto his cheeks. He froze, his green eyes wide and they looked like the glassy lake they had seen on a field trip outside of the barrier.

She felt the warmth of his hot breath on her wrists as he breathed out, choking on whatever air had been in his lungs.

She laughed.

“I think you’re the one touch starved,” She stated honestly, “Haven’t you ever been this intimate with a friend?”

Riven swallowed, his hands trailed over her wrists and circled her small hands. Musa tried not to think about how nice his hands felt over her own. How different the action was as to when Sam had done it moments ago. She ignored the warm feeling spreading and recoiling in her stomach.

“If Sky ever touched me like this, I’d think something different was going on,” Riven’s voice was hoarse, his eyes dazed and Musa felt a satisfied smile playing over her lips. 

“Guess you don’t have too many female friends who express their feelings with a delicate touch.”

Riven scoffed, he hesitated for a moment before prying her hands off her face, “Get your damn sticky and cold fingers off of me, mind fairy.”

“Oh you know you liked it.” She rolled her eyes at him, laughing.

She wasn’t expecting the flush of color from his neck to spread up to his face. He was blushing. Again. Because of her.

She was going to throw him a bone and stop her teasing, for the sake of his reputation.

“If you must now I was just projecting my feelings onto him,” She didn’t know why she was explaining herself to him, especially about something that didn’t concern him. “He was worried that he wouldn’t be a good boyfriend to whoever he’s interested in. I wanted him to know I felt nothing but good things when we were together.”

She shrugged, “I guess I just wanted to encourage him.”

“That was a very physical push of encouragement.”

“My projection is more powerful when I feel their face,” She frowned. “I’m not strong enough yet to do it without physical contact.”

Riven was suddenly very defensive, “Projecting with physical contact already takes a hell of a lot of power to do, so don’t sell yourself short. You’ll get there.”

Riven was full of surprises these days.

“So…” The atmosphere had dimmed. Riven cast his eyes to the window, watching the wind blow across the tree line. “Is Sam your ideal type of boyfriend? You were uh, projecting pretty intensely there. I don’t need to be a mind fairy to see that.”

“He’s a good guy, but no one is perfect. No relationship is.”

Riven nodded understandingly, his eyes were miles away and his voice hollow as he spoke, “You deserve someone good, Musa.”

He rarely said her name, but that wasn’t what threw her off. He sounded so genuine and yet so hurt. She could feel his emotions curling in on her, strong and heavy, but just as quickly as she had felt them they disappeared.

“Sorry to keep you guys waiting!” Sky plopped down, pulling Bloom down with him. “Bloom is being conspiratorial.”

Riven shook himself from whatever trance he was in and made room for Sky, moving away from Musa.

“Oh, do tell.” Musa arched an eyebrow at her friend. 

“I’m conspiring to get Brandon and Stella together,” Bloom gushed.

“I hear the words Brandon and Stella, what’s going on?” Aisha asked joining them and sitting next to Musa.

From a distance, Terra could be heard laughing with Dane. Beaming and flushed, as they gathered their breakfast on their tray.

“Love is definitely in the air, right mate?” Sky clapped Riven on the back and gave him a knowing look.

Riven choked and sent him a scathing look. His eyes flickered to Musa and then he called out for Dane and Terra to join them.

Sky’s blue eyes felt penetrating as he stared at Musa, a knowing smile on his face. It unnerved her, but she quickly forgot about it as the group began to come up with the best way to get Brandon and Stella together.

* * *

It was not her day. She had fallen asleep in Runes. Gotten her ear bit off because of it. Slammed into some buff Specialist on her way to her training, he yelled at her too and she snapped back. Which only got his fairy friend angry and the blonde girl had doused her with water. 

To make matters worse, she was late and everyone had been paired off. They were one Specialist short today so she had been stuck on rounds with Dowling. 

She grumbled, plucking the leftover staffs off the floor and making her way to put them back. Silva always managed to convince her to do pick up duty. She felt Riven’s presence before she saw him.

He was too loud, as always. The familiar smugness that came from him was potent. He had a Specialist pinned under him, hand steadied on the other guys chest and a smirk on his face.

Musa tried not to gawk. His muscles flexed as the boy under him struggled and tried to push Riven off him, which only caused Rivens arm muscles to ripple as he forced him down further. 

It was a hot day and Riven was not one to forgo showing off his toned arms.

Musa waltzed past them, avoiding eye contact with Riven. She wasn’t sure about their moment from a few days ago. The feeling she had felt when she touched his face.

The same soft open look he had given her in the library had been there. The air light feeling had simmered under his shock. She was avoiding him and the onslaught of emotions that came from thinking about his sea green eyes. 

She was not as lucky at avoiding the mass of lust-filled Specialist boys who were swarming the clearing to get an afterclass workout session.

“You’ve got a good grip on that,” a tall, dark haired boy with broad shoulders blocked her way, his friends trailing after him. “I wonder how tight your grip will be on my—”

“Piss off, Haywood!” Riven barked, barreling out of nowhere and pushing the boy out of her way. 

“What the hell is your problem, Riven!” The boy—Haywood—steadied himself, muscles pulled taut as he confronted the green eyed boy. 

Riven stood protectively over Musa, his eyes scanning the boys behind Haywood who looked ready to fight.

Riven didn’t speak, he placed his hand on Musa’s shoulder and bowed his head to meet her eyes. Seeing her face he must’ve confused her shock with fear because she felt the overprotective and concerned drifting from him to her.

Riven turned to Haywood, hands curled into fists and a sneer on his face. Haywood doubled over with a belly laugh.

“ _Oh_ ,” Haywood shook his head, pointing at Musa, “Oh, I get it. This is your new play toy!”

His friends snickered.

“Shove off!” Riven snarled.

“Oh, my bad,” Haywood’s tone was grating Musa, the staff in her hand would snap in half any second. “You don’t like sharing? That’s okay I don’t want your sloppy seconds.”

Riven growled and pounced on Haywood, landing a hard blow to his chin. Musa’s eyes drifted across the field for any sign of Professor Silva or anyone for that matter who could help. He was gone, class was technically over and he trusted his students to continue their afterclass workouts without supervision. There were barely any students left.

Haywood’s pals grabbed onto Riven, who squirmed, each holding onto his arm and pulling him up. Riven was openly displayed for Haywood to punch.

“I’m gonna enjoy this,” Haywood sneered. “I’ve been itching to give you a good beating, _Riv_.”

Haywood began throwing punches in rapid succession. Blow after blow, Riven grunted but didn’t falter. He cursed at him and tried yanking himself free.

“You think you’re such a man,” Haywood hissed. “Always parading like a damn peacock. But you’re nothing, nothing without Sky. Don’t forget you were nothing but a pathetic nerd last year.”

Riven growled and kicked him wherever he could. Haywood retaliated with a knee to the stomach. Riven crumpled and Haywood’s friends laughed.

Haywood raised his foot to stomp on Riven. Musa’s fury overflowed. She raised the staff in the air and let it come down with as much power as she could muster.

The loud _whack_ of the staff making contact with Haywood’s cheek shocked them all. With a cry of anger, she raised it again and smacked in the arm. 

“Stop! Get off him!” She was so furious, brimming with an uncontrollable power in her.

She dropped the staff. Readying in a defense stance.

Haywood chuckled, “Cute. You need your girlfriend to defend you too? To fight your battle?”

Haywood hovered over Riven who was curled in the ground, the friends pinning him down. Musa snapped her hand back and let it fly forward with as much strength as she had done with the staff.

The punch wasn’t as bad as Riven’s had been, but it had landed in the sensitive redden area on his cheek where she had whacked him with the staff. 

“You bitch!” Haywood whirled to face her, eyes blazing and hands ready to surely strangle her. “You’re going to pay for that!”

Musa backed away scared. Haywood’s hands come onto her shoulders, flinging her around like a rag doll. She struggled, her hands trying to push him off her with no avail. 

“Don’t fucking touch her!” Riven’s anger was met with a kick to the shoulder by one of the cronies.

“Get off!” Musa screamed as Haywood slammed her to the ground. He wasn’t hitting her, just swinging her around enough to scare her.

He was succeeding, she was petrified. She cried out as his hands curled around her throat. Not enough for injury, just enough to continue to instill fear in her.

“You mind fairies are always getting in the damn way! Useless, really.” He leaned down to her, mouth at the shell of her ear. “What are you going to do? Read my emotions? Be my therapist?”

Riven snarled at Haywood, cursing him, which only earned him a swift kick to the leg. His feelings were overwhelming her, sending her into overdrive. They were too powerful. All of his fury, his pain, his anxiety, his...

It was the same feeling again. Somehow that same warm, fluttery, buoyant feeling was still niggling under all his emotions. Getting stronger and stronger, overpowering everything.

Musa couldn’t place it. She didn’t know what it was. She knew she had felt it before in others, but not like this, not from Riven and certainly not directed at her. Yet when it came from Riven it was only directed at her.

“Ah!” Some strong invisible power expelled out of her and had Haywood flying back. It was short-lived but enough to have her scrambling up and towards Riven.

Haywood’s buddies were staggering towards their leader, helping him up.

“You telekinetic bitch!”

She had done that...she had used telekinesis to push him off her. She only felt Riven’s overbearing emotions, her own flowing with his. That’s what had caused her to let it go. The need to protect not only herself, but him had triggered a new part of her powers.

Before Haywood could retaliate. Sky was running down and tackled Haywood to the floor. Brandon’s strong presence and Dane’s skilled staff display had Haywood’s cronies shrinking.

“About damn time,” Riven spat blood onto the grass, smiling up at his friends.

“Sorry, I had to call for backup,” Dane told him, picking up one of the cronies by the collar. 

“Get him out of here,” Brandon told Musa, hands cracking as he fixed the other cronie with a glare. “Silva will not be happy about this.”

Musa quickly helped Riven up and led him towards the school. She could hear the sounds of the boys fighting. The last thing she saw was Sky giving the pair the same aggravating knowing look.

* * *

“You’re not going to speak, huh?” 

Riven sat on her bed. His shirt was discarded, tossed somewhere on her bathroom floor all bloody and torn. He was wearing her father’s old shirt from a festival back home. It was bright orange with pink little musical notes. Her father had given it to her since it was the shirt from the festival they last attended with her mom.

If it were any other day she would have been overcome with grief over the sight of it, or laughing at how silly Riven looked in it.

She wasn’t in either mood today.

“I’m going to need the shirt back,” She said, wiping the encrusted blood off his eyebrow. “It has sentimental value.”

He sighed and in one fluid motion, lifted the shirt off his body. 

“I’m used to being shirtless anyway.”

“Oh fuck off!” She slammed the first aid kit onto her desk and took a deep breath.

Riven blinked owlishly at her, startled. 

“I would say how hot that was, but it’s probably not a good time.”

“You think?” She went back to cleaning him up and sealing any visible cuts. “I don’t need you fighting my battles you know. I had it handled.”

He scoffed, “You don't know how sleazy Haywood is. He’s worse than me! _Me_ , Musa!”

“That’s saying a lot,” She wasn’t sure why she felt so bitter as the memory of seeing Riven with a string of different girls after Beatrix.

She hadn’t known him too well then, hadn’t cared about him. She had been with Sam, happy and committed to that relationship. Yet thinking about it now, him wrapped up in a corner with some random girl, it stung.

“I don’t need you fighting my battles either.”

Of course. Those words had hurt his ego when Haywood had said it.

“I…” She halted her actions, her eyes boring into his. “You were hurt.”

Her voice was so small. Riven’s whole resolve softened. She leaned into him, her fingers fluttered over the bruising under his eye. He instinctively leaned into her touch.

“Definitely touch starved,” She whispered breathlessly as Riven’s breath fanned over her.

His scent was musky and it reminded her of the forest and cool damp earth.

Riven shrunk back. 

“I’m not fucking touch starved,” He hissed, jumping off the bed and walking to the bathroom. “I get plenty of action. Plenty. I’ve got girls come at me in droves!”

He growled at the sight of his shirt and left the room and towards the hallway closet. That was where they usually kept some of the clothes Sky left behind whenever he snuck in to see Bloom. A good collection of sweaters Bloom had nicked from him was beginning to pile up.

“You gave me a sentimental shirt, knowing full well Sky has a second closet here.”

Truthfully, she had forgotten all about it. Sky must’ve told Riven about it because she wasn’t sure how he would’ve known otherwise. She watched as he plucked off a grey jumper off the hook and covered the great expanse of his golden, toned torso.

“Like what you see?” Riven smirked. “Most girls do. Don’t be shy, you can tell me.” 

Musa could hear the smugness in his voice but it didn’t match the emotions simmering in him. He was nervous, bordering on an extreme alerting sense of anxiety.

Was he nervous she wouldn’t like what she saw?

“Droves huh?” She changed the subject, keeping her tone neutral. She ignored the sagging of his shoulders, he quickly composed himself.

“Not touch starved,” He leaned back onto the wall, looming and leering as per usual. “On my last rendezvous I had this girl’s hand on—”

“Don’t need the image,” She angrily pushed him away and shut the closet door. She didn’t want to imagine the girl, probably from last night, all over him.

Not when her thoughts had been all about him recently and he clearly wasn’t as focused on her as she was on him.

“Jealous?”

He was looking at her, his eyes penetrating her and searching for something.

She did feel something, she wasn’t going to say it because she wasn’t sure what it was.

“Repulsion,” she said offhandedly. “I don't need to hear all about last night’s tryst.”

“It wasn’t last night,” he muttered bitterly. “Hasn’t been anyone since—“

His eyes widened, as if for a moment he had forgotten who he was speaking to. He readjusted himself and prepared himself for the roasting.

“Oh you’re not getting any?” Was she relieved? “Shame. I thought you could wrap anyone around your finger?”

“Apparently not.”

She was curious. She crept closer to him, her hand ran along his arm. His breath hitched, but she didn’t notice. Her eyes were searching his eyes.

“Don’t you dare look into my head, Musa.”

“Why are you afraid I’ll figure out your secret?”

There it was again. The feeling she got from him. But it was also being masked by his anxiety. She was getting fed up with his confusing feelings, especially his overwhelming sense of nervousness whenever she was near and the warm, airy feeling he projected onto her.

She could only pinpoint one of those feelings.

“Why are you always so anxious around me?” She asked, exasperated. “Are you scared of me or what?”

The color drained out his face and he backed away from her. She missed the heat of his body. 

“You don’t have to be afraid of me, Riven,” She told him sincerely. “Look, I know, I know I’m not the best at keeping my powers at bay. But I seriously don’t mean to intrude.”

“That’s…” He looked torn. He looked like he wanted to finally speak up but something was holding him back.

She inches closer, invading his personal space again. His fingertips ghosted over her cheeks, along the little scratch she had gotten when Haywood had slammed her to the floor. His hand drifted towards her hair and he tucked a stray piece behind her ear.

“That’s not what I’m afraid of.”

“Then what are you afraid of?”

The energy between them was positively charged. His green eyes electric as they glanced down at her. The warm, airy feeling was everywhere filling her with a buoyancy that felt like she was floating.

“You,” He admitted truthfully, before she could protest on her being right, he elaborated. “But it’s not what you think. It was, I hated it. Hated that you saw through me, got into my head. Now I’m afraid that you’ll see something else...something that I’m not sure how you’ll feel about.”

“You’ve grown on me,” She confessed. “We’re friends now. I don’t think anything you think will throw me off now, I’ve unintentionally seen plenty of you.” 

“I know,” He smiled down at her. “And you continue to stay, but this is different. You deserve something different, better.”

“How? I don’t understand—”

“Silva is pissed!”

“Silva!” Stella’s loud shrieking and the sound of a door slamming had broken their reverie.

No one in this damn school had good timing.

“Oh Silva’s pissed? I’m _pissed_ , Brandon!”

The whole group slipped into the suite, Sky shaking with laughter as Stella stomped her foot. Bloom frowned and tossed a damp hand towel at Sky and Brandon to clean the blood off their faces.

Upon seeing Riven’s face, Brandon smirked, “Oh you should see the other guy.”

“This is not funny, Brandon!”

“Aww Schnookums, were you worried about me?”

Stella froze. Her eyes watered and Musa felt the onslaught of emotions before she did. Brandon rushed to her worried.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” He comforted her, tucking her into his arms. “I’m okay. I’m fine, just a few scratches.”

“It didn’t look like a few scratches when you came all bloodied into the school!” She cried out. 

“Mostly not my own blood,” Brandon said which earned him a slap on the arm. “I’m sorry I worried you...I didn’t mean to. I didn’t think it’d worry you.”

“Why wouldn’t it?”

Dane and Terra looked away as Stella grabbed onto Brandon’s collar. Bloom edged in her seat eagerly, hand curling tightly on Sky’s hand. He watched his friends tenderly.

Musa felt like she was intruding, she was going to do the same as Dane and Terra and turn away from the scene in front of her. Then she felt it. 

It was just as airy, except this was crisp. Tangy in a weird way, charged differently. But still similar to the warm, light feeling that radiated off Riven around her. 

The emotion circled in the air, wrapped around Brandon and Stella as the blonde light fairy yanked the Specialist to her height and kissed him square on the mouth.

Musa gaped. _Infatuation._

The feeling was infatuation—strong and romantic infatuation. Too powerful to be a small crush, the beginnings of love.

“Oh shit.”

Her shocked whisper wasn’t heard against Aisha’s loud, “That’s what it took! All of our planning!”

“Oh shit.” 

She stumbled back and Riven steadied her. None of the attention was on them.

“Musa?” Riven’s voice was full of concern. The feeling—his infatuation, his tender feelings of romance, or whatever the hell it was—strangled her.

“I gotta go.”

She needed to get out of there. All these feelings. Stella’s and Brandon’s feelings for one another were so similar to that of Riven. 

Musa was out the door before anyone could say anything else. 

He liked her. Riven liked her. How had she not known? She had felt something similar with Sam, the fluttery feelings. She never knew how strong his affection was for her because she couldn’t feel it unless it was so potent. She felt like throwing up.

She realized the feeling was familiar not because Riven constantly and unknowingly projected it onto her, but because she had been surrounded by it her whole life. She had felt it in her parents, felt it for her friends in a different way. Felt the beginnings of romantic feelings in her friends and her respective partners.

Felt it with Sam and Riven…

Riven. She was in love with Riven. She slumped onto the cold stone wall, too scared to move. Too scared to face Riven. She understood his fear of her now.

He wasn’t afraid of her peeking into his head, he was used to that. She was afraid of her seeing how he felt and not reciprocating. The discomfort he felt around Sam was jealousy. He had romantic feelings for her and she for him.

“Oh shit.”

* * *

A week had passed. She was avoiding Riven, which was pretty easy since he had gotten detention for fighting Haywood. She had come to Silva to get him to lay off, since Haywood had provoked him.

Silva had eased the punishment on his favorite Specialist group, clearly excited to not have to severely punish them.

Musa was currently under a canopy of trees, music blasting and enjoying the warm sunny day. She was trying her best to shut out the world.

Her earphones were ripped off her ears abruptly. She shot up, ready to snap at whoever had done that.

Musa was surprised to see Sky perched next to her smiling innocently still fully decked in Specialist gear. 

“Mind if I join you?” 

She wasn’t particularly close to Sky, but he was Riven’s best friend and Bloom’s boyfriend. She liked talking to him when they all would hang out as a group. She shrugged deliberately.

“You’ve been avoiding Riven.” 

“You’re subtle,” She muttered, plucking pieces of grass off the ground. “I don’t think it’s any of your business.”

She was in no mood to talk about Riven. Not when her knowledge of his deep, profound feelings were so fresh to her.

“He’s like my brother so that makes it my business.”

She gave him a lazily stare and went back to pulling grass absentmindedly.

“You know.”

She felt paralyzed. She turned her head mechanically to him and he had that stupid knowing smile on his face.

“ _You_ know.”

“I do,” He grinned sheepishly. 

“Did he tell you?” Had everyone but her known?

All those knowing glances from Sky. Was he conspiring to set up Musa and Riven the same way his girlfriend wanted to do to Stella and Brandon? Those two were truly meant to be, both playing matchmakers for their friends. 

Suddenly, she understood the double meaning behind Sam’s words that day to Riven. Riven was jealous, insecure of her relationship with Sam, and Sam had known. He had tried to placate Riven subtly.

“I’m so oblivious.” She muttered, hanging her head low. 

“A bit,” Sky laughed and Musa nudged him feigning anger. “In your defense, he tried really hard to hide it from you. He wasn’t so subtle to me, I know him well.”

“He didn’t have to tell me,” Sky told her. “I could see the longing in his eyes.”

“The longing?” 

“The pining!” Sky exclaimed exasperated and Musa laughed at his exaggeration. “Do you know how hard it is to live with two pining boys? I didn’t know who was worse, Brandon or Riven. Actually, definitely Riven, that one was angsty.”

“I can imagine your pain,” She pointed at her head and Sky looked sheepish. “Mind fairy and all.”

Sky regarded her closely, “Do you like him?”

She felt herself sober up at the question. Did she like him? She had been so sure that she did, when she had escaped the suite after finding out about his feelings.

The feeling she had felt come off surged inside of her at the mere thought of Riven. She knew the answer.

“I do.”

“Then why are you avoiding him?” 

“I’m scared,” She disclosed, it was easy to do it with Sky. Maybe because she knew he would look through her the same way Riven had. 

Sky seemed to be more aware of her and Riven than she was. There was no point in lying. The boy was too observant, similarly to Bloom.

“Bloom thought so too,” Sky grinned at her stare. “We weren’t only trying to get Brandon and Stella together. We both knew you angsty pair would be more of a challenge.”

“If it makes you feel any better Riven is scared shitless,” Sky jumped to his feet and extended his hand out to her. She took it and he helped her up.

“I’m not sure why I am,” She answered honestly. “I’ve been in love before, but Riven…”

“It’s different?” Sky’s eyes gleamed as bright as his smile. “I felt that with Bloom too. Of course, I loved Stella. Stella was safe, like Sam. Riven and Bloom are unknown territory, it’s scary, but if you’re ready to jump, I’ve got your back.”

She felt grateful to the boy in front of her.

“Thanks Sky.”

“Sure. Now please go find him. I can’t stand sulking any longer. Last I saw him he was a bit near the barrier, on the east end.”

She nodded and gave him a hug before dashing off in search of the green eyed Specialist that haunted her mind.

* * *

She found him lazily sprawled across the shrubbery at the edge of the barrier. He wasn’t outside of it, hovering just by the edge. He was twirling a cigarette in his hand. 

“Need a lighter?” 

Riven sprang up, alert and wide eyed. He glanced at her, then slumped back onto the floor and twirled the cigarette again.

“Someone once told me they were bad for my health.”

“Smart person,” She said plopping down next to him.

He shifted uncomfortably. He watched her from his peripheral, but his posture never changed from being rigid. 

His emotions were tangible. The sulking Sky had mentioned waved over him like a dark cloud. He was chaos, controlled chaos that she was constantly submitting herself to. 

He leaned his weight on to his knees and watched the scenery in front of them. The sunlit dappled trees, the soft humming of the creatures, the warm breeze. Everything felt so serene except him.

“Talk to me.”

Riven sighed but obliged, “What do you want me to say?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do you want me to talk about how you’ve been avoiding me?” He snapped, aggressively squeezing the cigarette in his hand. “I’ve been wracking my head thinking about what I did wrong. Or thinking what I could have done to not make you feel overwhelmed by everyone in that suite.”

“I wasn’t overwhelmed by their emotions,” She fixed her stare at the floor. “I was overwhelmed by yours.”

“Oh _great,_ ” He barked out bitterly. “That’s just fucking great, Musa. So now I know I definitely did something wrong. What was it? What did I do wrong this time?”

“Nothing.”

He pinned her with an angry glare. She was suffocating under his emotions, he was furious and he wanted her to know. He was also hurt, she had hurt him. 

“I know how you feel,” She blurted out. He stiffened and she could’ve sworn she felt his soul leave his body. “I realized what that feeling you always projected was. It was similar to Stella and Brandon’s—”

“I told you to stay the _fuck_ out of my head!” He pushed off the ground, stomping uneasily as he angrily tried to leave.

She blocked him.

“Move, Musa.”

“No.”

“Musa…” His eyes met hers and she felt her heart lurch.

The heartbreak was so visible, so tangible. It burned in her own heart, it tore right through her and she wanted to scream from the pain. Rejection and heartbreak, that’s all she felt.

“Riven, please wait.”

“For what?” He laughed derisively. “So you could reject me? No thanks. I get it Musa I’m not good enough for you, I know that.”

His tone grew bitter, “I’ve always known that.”

“Oh Riven…”

“Spare me the pity, Musa. I don’t want it.” He pushed her away gently, his face turning away from her.

“Riven, look at me,” She placed her hands on his chin, trying to get his face to stay in place. “ _Please_ , just look at me”

He sighed, his green misty eyes were gazing down at her. That same softness and openness he often displayed in front of her clear as day. The swarming infatuation was in eyes, in her soul and heart, it was overbearing and she wondered how she didn’t see it before.

“Stay still.”

She lunged forward, pressing her lips soundly to his. She synced the movement of her lips with the thrumming of her heart. Pressed her body flushed onto him, feeling the heat of his body, the thundering of his heart against hers. 

Every sweet, positive feeling she had felt when it came to him poured out of her. He gasped at the swirl of emotions that flowed into him, she smiled onto his lips. He laughed—so beautifully and carefree into her kiss, and wound his arms tightly around her. 

His hands were all over her hair, tugging the little space buns free, and raking his fingers through the softness and pulling. She groaned and yanked his head closer, twirling the little ends of his hair at the nape of his hair. 

She filled the air around them with warmth, heating through them like fire. She felt free. Like she was floating. Buoyant. It was the same feeling he had shown for her but tenfold due to her powers. Riven’s laughter, his pounding heart, and warmth was all she needed in the moment.

His love was all she felt and her love was all he felt.

Feeling the need for air, he pulled away reluctantly, staring down at her with half-lidded eyes. 

“Wow,” He gasped, coiling the end of her hair in his fingers. “That was...did you do that?”

She nodded, sheepish, “I wanted you to know how I _feel_. I can only project my emotions through physical contact, remember?”

“Thank God, for that,” He grinned, pressing his lips to her mouth and trailing it down to her the soft skin of her jaw and throat. “I thought you wouldn’t feel the same. Actually, I was more scared that you would.”

“I like you, Riven,” She threaded her fingers through his scalp and he melted into her touch. “You are touched starved.”

He rolled his eyes, “Only for you, baby.”

The word caused a swarm of butterflies to flutter in her stomach. 

She sobered up, wanting to address his insecurities, “I know you don’t feel like you’re good enough—”She held up a finger as he began to speak. “Wait. I know that and I want you to know that you’re wrong. I want to be with you.”

“Sam he…”

“Sam isn’t part of this equation,” She scolded, her hand rested on his cheek, feeling the scruffy stubble. 

“I once heard he was peaceful for you,” Riven admitted, his fingers ran down the length of her face. “That he was noiseless, I guess. What do I feel like to you?”

She could sense the insecurity hedging him, it was too intense to ignore. She tilted her head back and traced the outline of his lips tenderly. 

“Chaos,” She disclosed, she felt the darkness storming over her abruptly. “You feel like chaos, but it’s exhilarating. It’s distracting in a different way. With you everything is chaotic, but controlled. It’s you Riven and I don’t want it any other way.”

“Isn’t silence and peace safer? Better?”

“Not to me,” She said it with so much conviction, that she could feel the thrumming and pulsing of his love explode around them. “I want you, Riven, I don’t know when or how, but I fell for the chaos inside of you. It reminds me I’m alive.”

He chuckled, “Oddly, enough your mind probing does the same for me. Keeps me grounded, reminds me I’m human and not a soulless arsehole.”

“Well, you’re not,” She reminded him, seeing right through him like she always did. “Somewhere deep inside you, you have a heart. I’ve seen it, seen all of you.”

“Nope, not all of me,” He winked at her devilishly and grabbed her face. 

She bonked him on the head. He merely snickered and pressed his lips onto hers. The air erupted with the airy feeling of love again.

“I could get used to this,” She murmured, pulling him closer.

“Me too.” He let his feelings flow through, opening the floodgates of his mind and heart for her and she felt everything. Every chaotic feeling of his intertwined with hers. 

She truly fell for the sweet chaos of his mind and wouldn’t have it any other way.


End file.
